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Michael McKernan has been an academic and a museum administrator and now works exclusively as an historian. He has written or edited more than twenty books. His most recent books were The Valley: a story from the heart of the land (2009) and Gallipoli: a short history (2010). He is currently working on a personal history of Canberra.

Jugiong was once a stopping point on the Hume highway and known to all those travelling south. Yet despite its public face it has maintained its privacy through most of its existence. The same families recur in its story; people have lived and worked there, rarely moving on. The Valley attempted to tell the broader story of rural Australia by focussing on Jugiong. This talk asks to what extent Jugiong was representative of rural Australia or was it an exclusive and private place.